Having been a fan of CHESS since my early childhood, yet unable to play Human opponents face-to-face over the past few years, owning versions on my PS3 and PC allowed me to continue this hobby.

The latest rendition I downloaded, SIMPLY CHESS, is Free for the STEAM system. As the name suggests, it is a standard edition without loads of unnecessary extras or enhancements and ideal for people who just wish to play the game at its minimalistic level.

The game can be played as either a 2D or 3D version and comes complete with a 14 screen guide - essential for beginners or as a refresher for more experienced players - giving information on how each piece moves and explaining the likes of Castling, En Passant and End Games. There is also a choice of wood or marble boards and several piece carving styles including Standard, Bauhaus or (my personal favourite) Condal, plus a selection of colours for the Standard pieces. Of course, many of these options are only cosmetic but at least, as seems to be the case these days when such items are regularly sold as DLC to increase profits, here they are included free with the standard game.

Graphically the game is adequate and the sound effects minimal, but this is fine and does exactly as desired. We can play Human opponents either locally or Online while there are 100 levels of increasingly difficult AI foes to face. Hence we have something for everybody despite their CHESS skill levels and game tastes.

SIMPLY CHESS has 11 Achievements to collect - most which will take many, many hours of play - as well as 6 Trading Cards. I am sure that fans of this ancient but endearing strategy board game will not be disappointed with this version and should give it a try.

Well it is hard to say it is good or bad. Single player is just fine, but multiplayer... well turn notification doesn't work for me but bigger issue is most of the time not working server. So you lose your game because of it doesn't work when you can play in time.
Achievement locked behind DLC which add basically nothing at the moment - like really?